Utility belts with back support are often used by construction workers and personal lifting heavy items. Exemplary of such devices are U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,201,448, and 6,053,883. These prior art devices provide a belt that is often uncomfortable to wear and do not provide specialized compartments to carry medical equipment or have an antimicrobial capability. Some utility belts have been designed for heath care providers. Exemplary of such devices are U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,024,361, 5,577,653, Des 333,729, Des 345,861, D425,353S, D445,185S, Des 333,729, and US Published Application Nos. 2003/0131398 and 2007/0205235. These prior art devices do not have an antimicrobial capability or provide for back support. Additionally, they do not include the capability to carry many of the necessary items of specialized equipment that must be readily available for trauma care specialist when rendering medical care to patents.
Low back pain often interferes with work, routine daily activities, or recreation and is a common cause of job-related disability and leading a contributor to missed work. Elastic back belts have been found to reduce the distance of forward spine bending and the velocities of forward-and-backward spine bending. Medical workers often spend long hours on their feet and traumatize their backs resulting in pain and discomfort. The implementation of back-support policies have been shown to reduce the employee rate of acute low back injuries and a good back support policy may be augmented with more effective equipment. Additionally, medical personnel, especially trauma specialist, require that certain medical and communications equipment readily be available to render timely medical service, and it is important to utilize equipment that reduces the likelihood of transmitting dangerous diseases.
It is therefore a general object of the present invention to provide an improved utility belt for medical personnel, especially trauma care specialist, which provides back support and provides for the ability to carry and store necessary equipment. Compartments and holding devices for trauma shears, communications equipment, pens, personal items, a stethoscope bell and a stethoscope's ear tubes may be positioned around the belt apart from a mid portion of the belt that is adjacent to the wearer's back, and a plurality of fasteners may be attached along the belt to secure critical equipment. A further object of the present invention is to not only provide a utility belt with back support but to provide a utility belt with the capability to provide broad back support as the belt stretches around the circumference of the waist which will be identified as the belt longitudinal axial direction and a utility belt that retains limited movement of the belt in the direction perpendicular to the axial direction. A foam pad in the mid portion of the belt provides additional support for the lower lumbar region of the wearer's back. Yet another object of the invention is to provide a trauma utility belt made of materials that will reduce the likelihood of transmitting diseases. The belt and all associated components may be made of materials having an antimicrobial capability to help destroy and inhibit the growth of microorganisms and especially pathogenic microorganisms. These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.